So, given what you have posted which is quite straightforward, reasonable and sensible, how do you square that with the treatment of people like JK Rowling who had the temerity to suggest that it might be better to use the word "Women" rather than "people who menstruate".
Or to put it another way, what is it in her essay here, that means she should be silenced?
https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/...ns-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/
Alternatively - do you think that there are questions that need to be asked and work that needs to be done to try and de-toxify this whole debate?
It's correct of you to say that these things should be sorted out, but I'm not the right person, especially now that Rowling has attempted to recruit lesbians into a bun fight. There are absolutists on both sides, so there's not too much chance of negotiation. I'm not taking to the streets with banners or gluing myself to anything etc.
I try to offer clear explanations of the things that I do understand and recuse myself from conversations about what I don't, such as sport.
What people will always get from me is the truth. I'm a stickler for it and expect truth from others. It has become too obvious that an honest debate or discussion in good faith just can't happen otherwise. This thread stands testimony. As I said in my first post, inevitably even the best-intentioned people get worn down by the repeated lies and absolutism.
In my opinion people, I don't just mean trans activists but everyone, should be fact checking what they hear rather than think, 'Oh I love Harry Potter' how dare they criticize Rowling (plenty of that on Twitter). Unfortunately people are just not critical enough of what they read. Rowling is not truthful in her accounts, they are biased, and they intend agitation. She intends to shock and them plays the victim afterwards. She has been writing books under another name which feature trans people as rapists which is to the detriment of trans people. Although she expresses distaste at the acronym TERF, it was instigated by a feminist woman. It then started being played back to them negatively, so then the TERFs started wearing big badges saying 'TERF AND PROUD'. It stands for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists.
Well radical feminists are a thing, and back in the days before the Equality Act 2010, I identified as one. Trans exclusion though was never an agenda item for my group. We just argued for equality instead of pretended parity, we wanted equality of opportunity, pay and conditions, plus some extra stuff that would help pregnant women, and their menfolk for that matter. I'm proud of the fact that we largely got that done. But there's no doubt that it is now all going backwards. It started off to cut backs ostensibly in the name of austerity following the banking crisis (gee thanks bankers!) Then there has been the pension stitch up (see Waspi women). But as far as trans people go, the row back is part of deliberately provoked culture war with the rights of the softest targets up for denial - namely asylum seekers / refugee people, and of course trans people. So radical feminists who wish to deny the rights of inclusion of trans people in society - trans exclusionary. Why not, it does what it says on the tin. So yes things didn't get equal enough because of VAT on sanitary products and not enough school budget to supply on need, but then not enough budget to supply school meals either, or books or much else either.
This is the culture war that this government wants, and it probably needs if it is to win the next election. What analysis shows is that people are more inclined to turn out to vote if they feel strongly about something, and more inclined to vote to tackle perceived threats. Hate is seen as a more powerful motivator than love. So demonise the asylum seeker people and pretend to the electorate that they are 'illegal immigrants' when they are not in breach of their convention rights. Demonise Insulate Britain protestors and Rebellion Extinction and Stop Oil as terrorist for protesting a government that has declared a climate emergency but is now engaged in greenwashing and astro-turfing. Ban the right to protest, lock them up, get the media to help in making sure that everyone knows they are all monsters. And of course trans people, by now self-explanatory.
The government want to get rid of human rights. I'm not making it up, it's in previous Tory manifesto pledges. They listen to Tufton Street because Tufton Street are big party donors. A few current & recent cabinet ministers (Raab, Braverman, Truss) co-wrote a book about the evils of human rights. Raab has prepared a Bill that he hoped would get through parliament to repeal the UK Human Rights Act, and Braverman wants to withdraw from the ECtHR and so abandon the UK's commitment to convention rights. This they believe is necessary because British workers are idlers and not earning enough for the billionaire donors that the Tories are in thrall to.
'People who menstruate' and don't forget 'chest-feeding'. The first of these is the work of the NHS who just want to get the right people along for screening. They don't want prepubescent girls, post-menopausal women, or trans women - they are just calling in people who menstruate, so that's women including some trans men. So with your knowledge about NHS coding, and record keeping, I'm sure you can make better sense of this than me.
Chest-feeding? I've heard a take down of what actually happened. It's not a first-hand account, but this is how it goes. A cis woman in a maternity ward near Brighton identified herself as non-binary. She did want to feed her baby herself but didn't wish to use the term 'breastfeeding'. The term chest-feeding was decided on, but another woman heard it and didn't like it and the press got involved. A proper mole hills and mountains story.
The detoxification will only come when a government acts in good faith. There is simply no need for this government to be fanning flames, other than their election ambitions, which they place above all else. And of course Starmer / Labour do too. It's not a quarrel for trans people to have to fix either, since as I have explained it's a row between different groups about trans people rather than with them.
So the solution has to be something like the Good Friday / Belfast Agreement that more-or-less settled the culture war on the island of Ireland, which of course is another big bunfight that the Tories have reignited.
